bit_card

Intentions

In the beginning, we wanted to focus on incentivizing people to do good by thinking about what they would want to keep private and releasing that information if they didn’t comply. As we thought of more ideas, we realized there were situations in which a user would want information to be public just to him/her but not to anyone else. Being that this was the case, we wanted to find a subtle way of displaying information but still lead to societal problems if made public? 

Process

We started by coming up with a list of things that are generally private in nature, such as your credit score or hospital records, and then finding a way to exploit that by making it public if you didn't comply with a certain action. 

We also tried to think of good habits that should be encouraged, such as taking short showers and using that as the metric for whether or not to leak the public information. 

Narrative & Object

This is a near future product designed for bitcoin users (currency, not investment). As a card, it links to your bitcoin account, and provides a usable multi-currency card thats funded by said account. It would also feature the bitcoin value & the converted value on the card itself - we wouldn't want people to have to pull out their phones every time they wish to spend on it. Since we provide Forex conversion, we could potentially also provide the exchange rate being used, and the details of that particular transaction on the card itself. 

We focused on the financial industry because of its overall impact - and the ossification that’s been seen in the industry, at least on the consumer side. Technology behind cards hasn’t changed for a while - and it represents an industry ripe for disruption. Cards today are basically just plastic pieces - pieces that everybody carries and uses. Embedding more tech in them would be incredibly beneficial. From a concerns perspective, it represents the potential impact of getting such a product wrong. While data security & privacy is a big issue, it isn’t considered from a social perspective. While said data may not “hackable” (which is really not true), it may not matter if the data is displayed on the object itself.

Issues & Recommendations

Issues that might arise from such a product mainly revolve around social concerns and figuring out what information can be made public and what cannot - in a contextual setting. Inappropriate publicizing of some information can cause unwanted behavioral changes in people around the user. 

1. User Research: Understanding the way cards are used today in their various scenarios is crucial to understanding which aspects of it's disruption the market is ready to accept. 

2. Data privacy: Understanding what information can be made public in the appropriate contexts is crucial to creating a non threatening product. Data privacy does not just refer to computing based data, but also data in social contexts. 

Bill of Materials 

1 X Credit Card sized aluminum shell

3 X pushbutton

1 X Paper e-ink display

1 X NFC Chip

1 X battery

1 X Ultra thin PCB with dynamic magnetic strip

External:

1 X Charger

1 X Companion Mobile Application

Video Scenarios

We focus on 3 scenarios: 

1. A situation where the publicizing of one's bank balance causes embarrassment due to the amount. In this case, a date which ends awkwardly after the other party feels obliged to pay after seeing the balance on the users card. 

2. A situation where the card becomes a point of obsession, removing any enjoyment others may feel in the users presence. In this case, a date which gets ruined by the users inability to not obsess over his card and the information it allowed him to show off. 

3. A situation where the publicizing of one's bank balance causes unwanted behavioral changes in others around the user. In this case, a person seeks a romantic relationship with the user upon discovering his financial worth.